stormsewer (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stormsewer) wrote2014-07-09 05:05 pm
stormsewer) wrote2014-07-09 05:05 pm
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2014 Hugo picks: short stories
Is it that time of year again already? Here we go.
4. "The Ink Readers of Doi Saket" by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
The tale of a desireless boy living in a village of wish-granters in rural Thailand.
I found this a bit affected. More clever than sincere. Something about this author says "ironic hipster geek" to me.
3. "The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere" by John Chu
A man must face coming out as gay to his aging Chinese parents in a future where anyone who lies is magically doused with cold water.
This was fun but reminded me rather too much of Ang Lee's film The Wedding Banquet for me to be overly impressed by it.
2. "Selkie Stories Are For Losers" by Sofia Samatar
A girl who believes her mother was a selkie gets involved with another girl who has a fraught relationship with her own mother.
I liked this story but found it fits a mold that's very popular these days: the magical realist piece (with the magical part being so slight that if you wish it gone, it is) about someone from an underprivileged group struggling with questions of identity.
1. "If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love" by Rachel Swirsky
A woman muses on how things might be different if her fiancé was a T. rex.
Not as cutesy as it first seems. I always feel a little guilty making the Nebula winner my top Hugo pick, but for me this is the clear choice.
4. "The Ink Readers of Doi Saket" by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
The tale of a desireless boy living in a village of wish-granters in rural Thailand.
I found this a bit affected. More clever than sincere. Something about this author says "ironic hipster geek" to me.
3. "The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere" by John Chu
A man must face coming out as gay to his aging Chinese parents in a future where anyone who lies is magically doused with cold water.
This was fun but reminded me rather too much of Ang Lee's film The Wedding Banquet for me to be overly impressed by it.
2. "Selkie Stories Are For Losers" by Sofia Samatar
A girl who believes her mother was a selkie gets involved with another girl who has a fraught relationship with her own mother.
I liked this story but found it fits a mold that's very popular these days: the magical realist piece (with the magical part being so slight that if you wish it gone, it is) about someone from an underprivileged group struggling with questions of identity.
1. "If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love" by Rachel Swirsky
A woman muses on how things might be different if her fiancé was a T. rex.
Not as cutesy as it first seems. I always feel a little guilty making the Nebula winner my top Hugo pick, but for me this is the clear choice.